Catalan President Sees Spanish Populist Party Podemos as Obstacle to Independence Movement
Artur Mas tells The Wall Street Journal in an interview that Podemos is a distraction from separatist concerns
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BARCELONA—The emergence of Spain’s upstart populist party Podemos could hurt Catalonia’s independence movement by diverting attention from the industrially powerful region’s grievances with Madrid, Catalonia’s leader said.As he prepared to embark on a trip to the U.S. to promote his independence campaign, Catalan regional President Artur Mas talked in an interview with The Wall Street Journal about the challenge of drumming up international support for his region’s uphill bid, ebbs and flows in foreign investment and anti-Catalan tweets.
Mr. Mas expressed concern about the rise of Podemos, the youth-led, leftist party that has surged in national polls with its slashing attacks on Spain’s conservative government. The party, with its more radical antiausterity discourse, aims to reframe the political debate in a way that could be unfavorable for the independence movement, he said.
“For Catalonia, the underlying problem isn’t the left-right axis, but rather the relationship between Catalonia and the Spanish state,” he said. “Put another way, whether either the left or right governs, we need more power for Catalonia, more resources for Catalonia, more decision-making capacity, and more protection for our language and culture.”
The emergence of Podemos “blurs things a little, or even undermines the basic challenge. In that sense, the appearance of Podemos is a great favor to the interests of the Spanish state.”
Mr. Mas said Podemos was a distraction from the main issues facing Catalonia and that was “highly negative” for the independence movement. Some analysts suggest that Podemos could capture protest votes from crisis-weary Catalans who might have previously gone to pro-independence parties.
In recent years, the pro-secession movement has gained followers in the northern region with its complaint that Madrid drains Catalonia of taxes without respecting its culture. But since 2.3 million people participated in a symbolic vote on independence last November, the separatist movement has run into a rough patch.
There were open disputes between Mr. Mas and another separatist leader before they agreed to schedule a parliamentary election this September that is designed to serve as a referendum on independence. Meanwhile, polls taken in Catalonia since December have shown opponents to independence outnumbering supporters—albeit narrowly—for the first time since 2012.
Mr. Mas said he isn’t worried about what he considers temporary poll fluctuations, and remains confident in the mobilizing capacity of the independence movement. He compared the numbers of people at Catalan independence demonstrations to those in Paris after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in January.
“They said that there were 1.5 million people in Paris and that it was an immense demonstration for a country that has almost 70 million people,” Mr. Mas said. “In Catalonia, with a population of 7.5 million, we’ve put 1.5 million people on the street supporting an independence referendum each of the last three years.”
Next week, Mr. Mas will travel to California, where he will meet with Gov. Jerry Brown to sign an economic cooperation agreement and visit think tanks, and then go on to to New York for events at Columbia University and elsewhere.
Mr. Mas said that during travels abroad he has found broad support for Catalans’ right to decide their political future, while at the same time “a certain discomfort” with the idea of Catalonia actually becoming an independent country.
‘Put another way, whether either the left or right governs, we need more power for Catalonia, more resources for Catalonia, more decision-making capacity, and more protection for our language and culture.’
Foreign investors are also closely watching political shifts in Catalonia, an industrial powerhouse accounting for one-quarter of Spain’s exports. Foreign direct investment in Catalonia fell by nearly 16% in 2014 from the prior year, Spain’s Economy Ministry said recently.
That decline has been seized upon by unionists who say the talk of independence is scaring investors. Mr. Mas said investment inflows remained strong last year, but only looked unfavorable when compared with those in 2013, which he called an outlier with exceptionally high investment levels.
In a rebuttal of the idea that investors are spooked by political risk, Mr. Mas noted that investment rose in the fourth quarter of 2014 from the year-earlier quarter, even though November was a tumultuous month in which Catalonia held its symbolic election in defiance of a constitutional court order.
Mr. Mas is currently facing criminal charges for defying the Spanish court. If found guilty, he could be barred from holding office, or face a jail term. “I’m at peace with what I’m doing, but not at peace with what might happen” in Spain’s legal system, he said.
Tensions between Catalans and people elsewhere in Spain continue to flare up, in sometimes unlikely ways. After several Catalans were identified as victims of the Germanwings flight that crashed last week after taking off from Barcelona, a number of Spanish Twitter users made light of the Catalans’ deaths.
“It doesn’t surprise me but it hurts me and offends me,” Mr. Mas said. “That is also violence. Verbal and written violence.”
Write to Matt Moffett at matthew.moffett@wsj.com
ENLARGE Catalan regional
President Artur Mas addresses the media during a press conference in
Barcelona on Jan. 14, where he announced elections in Catalonia would be
in September.
Photo: european Pressphoto Agency
